UK Pornography Traffic Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift fall in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this decline in site visits continued past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
